Tammy and Jinty were two of Britain’s best-loved girls’ comics in the 1970s and ’80s – ground-breaking female-led comics that covered everything from science fiction and fantasy to romance and domestic drama. This June, hot on the heels of the Cor! and Buster Special out next month, these classic titles return in Rebellion’s 48-page Tammy & Jinty Special, retooled for the 21st Century.

Note: Not Final Cover (logos may change)
Wrapped in a cover by Mike Collins, edited by Lizzie Boyle, a host of the finest modern creators pay tribute to this legacy of trail-blazing comics while introducing a new audience to the medium. Look out for strips from Rob Williams (Roy of the Rovers), Rachel Stott (Doctor Who), Rachael Smith, V V Glass (Assassin’s Creed), Emma Beeby (Mata Hari), DaNi and many more, presenting daring girl-led tales of roller derby, archaeology, codebreaking, ballet, space adventure and more!
Launched in 1971, initially edited by Gerry Finley-Day, followed by Wilf Prigmore, Tammy was a weekly British comic for girls published by Fleetway until 1984.
Conceived to breathe new life into the genre of girls’ comics, writer Pat Mills described the anthology title’s ethos as “hard, gutsy stories that don’t have to have a happy ending, in comments noted in Graham Kibble-White’s book Ultimate Book of British Comics, “combined with a strong camp quality, very clever plotting, ingenious ideas and totally over the top but still realistic concepts.”
A printer’s dispute in June 1984 prevented the final issues being published and the title was simply cancelled rather being merged with another title, which was the normal fate for titles considered to be under performing. Girl carried the Tammy masthead for several issues from 25th August 1984, but these issues contain no material from Tammy.
Artists who worked on Tammy included John Armstrong, who drew the long-running character Bella Barlow, whose early adventures have now been collected by Rebellion. Other artists included Mario Capaldi, Jose Casanovas, Tony Coleman, Diane Gabbott, Douglas Perry, Eduardo Feito, Giorgio Giorgetti, Juliana Buch and Miguel Quesada.
Edited by Mavis Miller, the weekly comic Jinty was published by IPC from 1974 to 1981, often featuring SF-inspired stories. The title absorbed sister comic Lindy in November 1975 and Penny in April 1980, before being merged with Tammy in 1981 after running for 393 issues.
Artists and writers were not credited in Jinty, but the superb Jinty Resource site, edited by Jenni Scott, has identified artists such as Terry Aspin, Jim Baikie, Shirley Bellwood, Mario Capaldi, José Casanovas, Leo Davy, Christine Ellingham, Phil Gascoine, Emilia Prieto, Ron Smith, Mike White and many more; and research has revealed writers such as Benita Brown, Alison Christie (now Alison Mary Fitt), Alan Davidson, Terence Magee, Pat Mills, Malcolm Shaw and many more.
Mike Collins cover for the new Special looks great, as you’d expect from an artist whose long comics career includes strips for Marvel UK, Marvel Comics, DC Comics and more – and who’s perhaps best known today as a storyboard artist for the TV series Doctor Who.
This is, of course, a PREVIEWS cover and may not be final in terms of masthead – and of course we can also expect to see a bar code box and more on the final version.
• The Tammy and Jinty Special will be in WHSmith and comic shops on 26th June 2019 and is available to pre-order from your local comic shop using the Diamond order code APR191915
• The 2019 Tammy and Jinty Special is also part of the discounted pack of 2019 Rebellion Specials – pre-order it here
• Great News For All Readers has an article on the first-ever issue of Tammy here
• A Resource on Jinty: Artists, Writers, Stories offers a brilliant guide to Jinty , and has items on other girls comics such as Tammy and Penny | Great News for All Readers interviewed its editor, Jenni Scott, about Jinty here
• There is an archive of the Tammy Project web site devoted to Tammy here on Wayback Machine
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With thanks to Lew Stringer
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News